Audubon® Native Cottonwood Treeling

Eastern Cottonwood is predominantly a midwestern and Plains-states tree. Its native range runs from Montana to Texas (“The Alamo” means “The Cottonwood”), and eastward to North Carolina. Populations are spotty in New England and the southern Appalachians. This is a tree of riverbanks and bottomlands, where the steady moisture spurs it on to grow very fast and very large. Lone specimens also grow out in the open and provide welcome shade to livestock and wildlife on the Plains. Cottonwood gets its name from the abundance of fluffy white seeds that female trees release in late spring. Birds gather the fluffy stuff for lining their nests.

Not for small properties! Eastern Cottonwood quickly gets huge. It will grow four to five feet per year and may eventually reach 100 feet tall and have a trunk six feet thick. It also tends to drop branches in bad storms. Don’t plant it near buildings, swimming pools, or city streets. Do plant it in large, open spaces with all-day sun and light, loamy soil. Though primarily a river-loving tree, Eastern Cottonwood can be remarkably drought tolerant. Give it plenty of irrigation at least during the first couple of years of establishment.

When we think of butterfly gardens, we do not usually think of massive shade trees, but caterpillar food is just as important to butterfly survival as flowers are, and Eastern Cottonwood is great caterpillar food. It services viceroys, red-spotted purples, Lorquin’s admirals, tiger swallowtails, mourning cloaks, and dreamy duskywings.